After the Taliban ambushed an American and Afghan patrol in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. called in airstrikes that killed 25 Taliban who had hidden in a compound area. Here's the details from Reuters:
Of course, the headlines from the MSM over the next week will have headlines ONLY about the civilians killed in these airstrikes and I suspect that the fact that those civilians were used as human shields by the Taliban will be stricken from those accounts. By the way, this is the same MSM that hasn't said a peep about the thousands of innocent civilians killed over the past week by the Russians in Georgia.
But this report shows exactly who and what the Taliban really are - scum. These chicken shits ambush a patrol and then, when they find the response stronger than expected, they run away into a village and take civilians hostage. Then, they don't just try to work an escape plan out, they continue the ambush on American and Afghan troops leaving no option for the Americans than to take them out with air strikes.
Now, the deaths of these civilians is tragic but the question has to be asked...what could we have done in this situation? Just retreated and rewarded the Taliban for this tactic? This is war and when the enemy is breaking every known rule of law in war times, you sometimes have no choice but to destroy them when you have the chance.
Let's face it, the Taliban have killed 100 fold as many civilians with their suicide attacks and roadside bombs than the West has killed accidentally in attacks. But of course, the liberal press along with now the leadership of Afghanistan, focuses only on the NATO and American attacks that caused civilian casualties. Well, I would put forth the premise that if the Taliban win this war, you will see tens of thousands of civilians killed over the long run.
The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The militants "then fled into a neighboring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said.
The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.
International forces are permitted to call in airstrikes when they are under attack even if they cannot be 100-percent sure there are no civilians in the area and this is where most mistakes are made, NATO officials say.
Of course, the headlines from the MSM over the next week will have headlines ONLY about the civilians killed in these airstrikes and I suspect that the fact that those civilians were used as human shields by the Taliban will be stricken from those accounts. By the way, this is the same MSM that hasn't said a peep about the thousands of innocent civilians killed over the past week by the Russians in Georgia.
But this report shows exactly who and what the Taliban really are - scum. These chicken shits ambush a patrol and then, when they find the response stronger than expected, they run away into a village and take civilians hostage. Then, they don't just try to work an escape plan out, they continue the ambush on American and Afghan troops leaving no option for the Americans than to take them out with air strikes.
Now, the deaths of these civilians is tragic but the question has to be asked...what could we have done in this situation? Just retreated and rewarded the Taliban for this tactic? This is war and when the enemy is breaking every known rule of law in war times, you sometimes have no choice but to destroy them when you have the chance.
Let's face it, the Taliban have killed 100 fold as many civilians with their suicide attacks and roadside bombs than the West has killed accidentally in attacks. But of course, the liberal press along with now the leadership of Afghanistan, focuses only on the NATO and American attacks that caused civilian casualties. Well, I would put forth the premise that if the Taliban win this war, you will see tens of thousands of civilians killed over the long run.
Afghan and U.S. forces kill 25 Taliban
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents and eight civilians after an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday.
The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency.
The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The militants "then fled into a neighboring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said.
The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.
International forces are permitted to call in airstrikes when they are under attack even if they cannot be 100-percent sure there are no civilians in the area and this is where most mistakes are made, NATO officials say.
Foreign forces say they do their very best to avoid killing innocent bystanders, but the perception among many, if not most, Afghans is that the troops do not take enough care and support for the presence of international troops is waning.
"The Taliban uses innocent civilians' homes, taking them by force to attack Afghan and coalition forces," the U.S. military quoted Uruzgan Police Chief Juma Gul as saying.
"If civilians get killed during these attacks, the responsibility falls on the Taliban and their terrorist sponsors," he said.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber targeted foreign troops in the northern province of Faryab on Monday, the private Tolo TV reported. The television station did not have any further information on casualties.
A roadside bomb also killed a police officer and wounded two others on the southern outskirts of Kabul on Monday, police said.
Taliban insurgents have launched increasing numbers of suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year in their campaign against Afghan and foreign forces.
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